A/N: And here's the next chapter! Enjoy
Disclaimer: I don't own Dungeons and Dragons. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 88: Towards the Outpost
The next morning, after restocking on supplies, we set out for our new destination. We made our way south, head towards where out contact had said the outpost of the Shadow Triad was located. As expected, our journey was not without threats. Four hours after leaving the Greenhll Academy, we came upon a pair of Chimeras tearing apart a carcass. As they saw us, they moved snarled and roared, ready for a fight. I decided to try scaring them off. I roared right back, but the chimeras stood firm. It seemed we'd have to take them down.
I reacted the swiftest, charging up to the nearer of the two chimeras and attacking it with claw and fang. Krisyra summoned her magic, and an icy wind swirled around the chimera near me, the magic chilling it. Narcrath pulled out a handful of coins, and infused them with magic, making them attack the other chimera. Three of the coins missed, but the others were on target, wounding the chimera. The chimera Narcrath attacked went after Charles, hitting him with its claws. Uxarix moved to assist Charles, drawing his new sword. The blade flashed with radiance, searing the chimera, he struck again, finishing it off. Lydratir took aim at the remaining chimera, hitting twice and further weakening our foe. The Chimera tried to attack me, but I managed to evade each of its attacks. Charles moved over to assist me, taking out the chimera with a trio of strikes from his greatsword.
We continued down the road, but it wasn't more than an hour until we ran into trouble again. A shadow passed over us, and I glanced up to see the outline of a dragon. It roared loudly, and flew lower. I could see it was a red dragon, not much older than me.
"Well, what have we here?" said the dragon, "hmm, you mach the description exactly… you are the anomaly. I know certain individuals who would pay handsomely for your head".
"You would be best suited to retreating from this battle," I said, "I will not take pleasure in it, but I will fight you if need be".
"I fear no one, especially not a weakling like you!" said the dragon, "You think you and those little creatues you travel with can challenge my power? You will fall!"
Lydratir acted the swiftest this time, taking aim at this enemy dragon and firing two arrows into its hide. Uxarix glanced up, and then pulled out a crossbow, firing at the dragon, but the bolt glanced off its scales. Narcrath cast a dark colored spell at the dragon, harming it further. Krisyra morphed into an air elemental, and she flew up to attack the dragon, hitting once as it tried to evade her attacks. I took flight to attack this dragon, slashing at it with my claws and slamming it with my tail as I flew by. Charles took aim with his crossbow, striking right between two scales. The dragon fought back agaist Krisyra, biting and clawing at her windy form.
Lydratir took aim again, firing twice. One arrow drove right into the dragon's eye, sending it reeling in pain.
"You'd be well served to flee this battle, dragon," shouted Uxarix, "You are badly wounded, but you still have a chance to escape with your life!"
"Never! I will never surrender to fools like you!" roared the dragon.
"I see but one fool here," said Uxarix, "and it is you!"
Uxarix took aim with his crossbow again, and fired. This bolt proved to be enough, and the dragon fell, crashing to the ground loudly.
I landed nearby, and looked on sadly at the fallen dragon. Why does it need to be this way? Why couldn't my kind be more sensible? There was nothing for it, unfortunately. I just had to keep going, keep being an example of the fact that there was a better path if one was just willing to try.
We continued on, journeying on through the dey. As we were getting ready to make camp for the night, we were unexpectedly assaulted by a group of four trolls. There was no chance of reasoning with these creatures.
Lysratir took aim at one of the trolls, putting two arrows into it. One of the trolls went after Uxarix, catching him with one of its claws. I moved up to the largest collection of trolls, and unleashed my fire, burning three of them. Uxarix struck back at the troll near him, his blade severly wounding it. Narcrath called up a chromatic orb, which became fire and split in two, taking down two of the trolls. One of the remaining troll ran up to me, snapping at me with its jaws. Krisyra summoned up a flame, and launched at one of the trolls. The troll she'd just attacked retaliated against her, striking with one of its claws. Charles moved to assist Krisyra, striking the troll three times and sending it sprawling to the ground.
Lydratir took aim at the last of the trolls, firing twice and wounding it further. I moved up the the troll, and managed to catch it with my claws, leaving it it bad shape. Uxarix stepped it, and took down the troll. Immediately after, Krisyra made sure to burn each of the trolls, just be sure they were really dead.
We continued on a bit further from the sight of our most recent battle, and then made camp. Later that evening, while I was on watch I heard something moving in the distance. I woke my companions, and we went to investigate. A short distance from our camp, I recognized two voices speaking in draconic… it sounded like they were bragging to each other. As we got closer, I saw it was a pair of copper dragons.
"Well I managed to get the better of an elven prince one time!" said one dragon.
"Amateur!" said the other, "I tricked some giants into fighting over a worthless shiny rock!"
"Is that all?" Said the first dragon, "I got an entire shipment of fine dwarven ale for free after convincing them it was tainted!"
"Really?" said the other dragon, "boring… well, I managed to get the better of Elder Xervos!"
"Fine, you win this round," said the first dragon.
I carefully backed off, not wanting to get in a needless fight with these two. It was best to leave them to their own battle to outbrag each other. We returned to camp, and lay down to rest.
A/N: And there we go! Next time, the adventure continues see you then.